The use of data communication networks continues to grow. In small as well as large corporate settings, wired local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs) have become an established feature of conducting business, and wireless networks are being increasingly employed. The use of network technology in the home, both wired and wireless, is a more recent phenomenon and has been slower to develop. In addition to facilitating Internet connectivity, home networking permits personal computing devices and various consumer electronic devices and appliances within the home to communicate with each other. Wireless technology, such as IEEE 802.11 wireless networks and networks of Bluetooth-enabled devices, is attractive in home as well as corporate environments for reasons of convenience, mobility and flexibility.
A principal impediment to the wider adoption of networking technology in the home and other non-corporate environments has been the difficulty experienced by non-expert users in configuring network devices. For example, it can be troublesome for such users to configure a device to function as a wireless access point (WAP). Setting up an ad hoc wireless network of peer devices (such as wireless PCs, wireless printers, and PDAs) is also typically a complex task. Each peer device must have the same network settings, and a secure ad hoc network typically requires each peer device to have a common WEP key, which must be communicated to the user of the peer device and entered manually. Thin client devices, such as digital audio receivers and wireless printers, which comprise an increasing number of home network devices, are particularly laborious to configure for network connectivity because they lack the convenient and intuitive I/O capabilities of conventional personal computers.